How to buy wine in a large liquor store

To me, the most daunting aspect of choosing wine seems to be in the big liquor store. The wide selection is so overwhelming that after spending several minutes (or more) browsing, Nate and I generally ended up with the first bottle we found in our price range labeled "more beautiful." Surprised? I admit that the committee overwhelms us easily. Worse still, we generally find that the staff has little knowledge of the wine offered. Like the customer, there is no way they have tasted all these wines. It feels like a roulette game.

Fortunately, there has only been one bottle that we are very disappointed with and we will never judge anyone who grabs a bottle "just to see" what it is like. It's part of the fun. But because our goal is to help boost your confidence in your wine selection, here are some tips to approach the large liquor store for your wine purchase:

1. Decide in advance what is most important to you, be it the country of origin, the price, the type of grapes, the wine vs. the red vs. the rose versus the sparkling, etc.


2. Explain your criteria for available staff. (Note that lighthouse liquors usually organize their shelves by region, and if you want a particular variety (grape), you may need to browse through the different regions for comparison.)

3. Feel free to ask staff if a typical wine or brand is popular with customers.

4. Get comfortable reading labels. The easiest way if you do not speak French, Italian, etc. is to ask the available staff to help you translate the label. Once we understood that the "dry" and "sect" meant "dry" in German, we had much more confidence in the Riesling wine as we are avid, dry Riesling fans, but avoided the sweeter Riesling wines at all costs. .

5. Consider geographic temperatures. This is new to us, but we now know that wines from California and Australia are probably richer and "more mature" than wines from France and state New York. Warmer climates throughout the year mean grapes mature faster. Ripe fruit has its own flavor, okay? Conversely, colder climates throughout the year mean a lighter, fresher taste.

6. Nothing lost by trying something new. So go ahead! The worst thing that can happen is that you do not love the wine of your choice. The best part is that you get another chance, another day.